Considerations before filing a Patent - Entroids

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Startup Founders DilemmaTo Patent Or Not To
Patent

• Vijay Kambhammettu
• Co-Founder Entroids LLC

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What you could learn in here.

• Considerations before filing A patent
• I patent my product because
• I would not patent my product because
• Two typical patents types. Which ones for you?
• The 3rd type that saves you time money

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Considerations before filing a Patent

• Prototype
• Build a prototype first to determine your
  product's functionality. It will ensures you have
  a close-to-final design when you do file for a
  patent. Changes in materials or mechanics is
  difficult once your patent's been filed. It
  address you to solve the Problem-Solution fit in
  the product development process.
• Market research
• Define your market and determine how large it is.
  If it's too small, your product may not be
  commercially viable. Validate the market
  acceptance by talking to actual beta customers in
  private. This helps validate your Product
  Market fit understanding.
• Cost to manufacture
• Estimate how much would it cost to manufacture
  and sell in your product in the identified market
  segment. If it costs more to make and sell than
  the market is willing to pay, your invention is
  just a money pit.
• Patent research 
• Make sure your idea isn't infringing on someone
  else's patent. To do that, you should conduct a
  "preliminary patent search." This step will help
  ensure that your idea hasn't already been
  patented. Visit www.uspto.gov on how to do
  search yourself.

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I would patent my product for .

• Manufacturing and commercial rights
• So you are a startup founder who has successfully
  developed a customer fit product for a very large
  market size but you know the some XYZ company is
  going to make a cheaper copy and reduce your
  sales. This is where you SHOULD patent your
  product and acquire manufacturing and commercial
  rights to make the maximum profit.
• License the patent or sell it
• So you have done further research and found out
  that you can launch a better version and make
  more money and the current patent is of no longer
  interest to you. This is where you SELL your
  patent to make money.
• Keeping competitors at bay
• The primary reason that founders patent their
  creation is to prevent competitors from using
  their idea and technology. Secondly investors
  feel secure with a patented product as their
  investment would not go in vain.

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I would not patent my product for.

• Finances Involved
• To Patent Product A significant legal fee must
  be paid to retain the rights. Failure to pay
  results in loss of patent rights meaning anyone
  can copy your idea. Being a startup founder who
  has just started product development there are so
  many things to worry about most important of
  which are customer validation and development of
  a product which actually sells. Extra financial
  burden of the patent hurts such early stage
  startups and burns out their capital.
• For Defending Patent Even if you patent the
  product there still is a possibility that someone
  somewhere may be working on the similar idea. If
  such a situation arise then you must be ready to
  defend your patent to retain rights.
• Diverts Focus
• Patent is an important step but not the first
  step. If you are focused on protecting an idea
  without even considering that how will it look
  once it goes into the stage ahead of blueprint
  will consumers be interested? What if the design
  isn't as productive as the theory? If you are not
  asking these questions in the beginning then you
  are wasting your investment on patent rights.
  Remember Development of the product which your
  customer want is the first and the most important
  step not preservation of idea
• Public Records
• Once you patent your product s every single
  details of it becomes public. Even your
  competitors have access to it and they can launch
  the better version once your patent expires or
  find loop holes and beat your to market

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Two key types of patents for StartupsWhich ones
for you?

• Utility Patent
• Issued for the invention of a new and useful
  process, machine, manufacture, or composition of
  matter, or a new and useful improvement thereof,
  it generally permits its owner to exclude others
  from making, using, or selling the invention for
  a period of up to twenty years from the date of
  patent application filing, subject to the payment
  of maintenance fees. Approximately 90 of the
  patent documents issued by the USPTO in recent
  years have been utility patents, also referred to
  as "patents for invention".
• Benefits 1. Protects the functional aspects of
  an invention. 2. Can provide broad patent
  protection making it difficult for a competing
  product to avoid patent infringement. 3. Capable
  of protecting many different variations of a
  product with a single utility patent.
• Pitfalls 1. More expensive than a design patent.
  2. Takes longer to receive patent protection
  (normally 2-3 years). 3. Does not protect the
  ornamental features of an invention.
• Design Patent
• Issued for a new, original, and ornamental design
  embodied in or applied to an article of
  manufacture, it permits its owner to exclude
  others from making, using, or selling the design
  for a period of fourteen years from the date of
  patent grant. Design patents are not subject to
  the payment of maintenance fees.
• Benefits 1. Cheaper than utility patent. 2.
  Usually faster patent protection at the U.S.
  Patent Office (normally between 1-2 years). 3. If
  the main feature of the new product is
  the appearance (i.e. ornamental design), then a
  design patent will protect this main feature
• Pitfalls 1. Design patents do not protect the
  functional features of an invention (most
  inventions have functional features). 2. Design
  patents can be relatively easy to design around
  by simply changing the overall appearance of the
  competing product. 3. Difficult to protect
  different variations of product.

Source http//www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oe
ip/taf/patdesc.htm
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The 3rd type, that saves Time Money
Provisional Patent

• What is Provisional Patent (PPA)?
• PPA is a patent application that can be used by a
  patent applicant to secure a filing date while
  avoiding the costs associated with the filing and
  prosecution of a non-provisional patent
  application. More specifically, if a
  non-provisional application is filed within one
  year from the filing date of a PPA, the
  non-provisional application may claim the benefit
  of the filing date of the PPA.
• Because a PPA is not examined, an applicant can
  also avoid the costs typically associated with
  non-provisional patent prosecution (certain
  attorney's fees, for example) for a year while
  determining whether his/her invention is
  commercially viable. Further, because a PPA is
  not made public unless its application number is
  noted in a later-published application or patent,
  the failure by an applicant to file a
  non-provisional application based on his/her PPA
  will not lead to public disclosure of his/her
  invention
• The Benefits
• A PPA essentially provides a one-year extension
  as to the filing of a U.S. non-provisional patent
  application.
• Because a PPA is not examined, an applicant can
  also avoid the costs associated with prosecuting
  a non-provisional application during this
  one-year period.
• The Pitfalls
• There are no extensions on the one-year time
  limit for filing a non-provisional application
  claiming benefit of a PPA filing date
• If the PPA does not adequately describe all that
  is claimed in the later-filed non-provisional
  application, then the material added in the
  non-provisional application may not rely on the
  PPA filing date

Source http//www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oe
ip/taf/patdesc.htm
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More Information .

• http//bit.ly/211BujS

http//1.usa.gov/1HeRz7w
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About Entroids Your Innovative Product
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Perfect Execution The best selling book by Larry
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execution is an extension to this definition.
Startup life is chaotic and its easy to get
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Strategic Execution Key to success is simplifying
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